Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-05-17
BURIED ALIVE.


II had been medical student at R.
College for about two years." said
gray-halred doctor who was one OF
the party around the cabin stove,
when ImeJ with q singular adventure.
1t was forty years ago, and only a few
lines concerning it was ever published.
The State prison was located in the
same city, and although there was no
law to that effect, as is the case now,
all bodies ofdead convicts not claimed |
| by friends were turned over to our
| college for subjects. 1t sometimes
| happened. however, that we did not
want them, as we drew from other
localities, and the classes were much
fewer in number than now. At the
time ] speak OF we had three or four
subjects. and would not want any more
| for weeks.
"One day--it was in June-I received
note requesting me to call on q con-
Wet at the prison named James Har-
ney. He was a man only % years OF
| age, and had escaped the gallows by a
scratch to be sentenced to solitary
confinement for life. Judges still SEN
tence men to solitary confinement,
bat it is well known that the sentence
is not carried out. After brief PERI.
cd in q dark cell the convict is set
to work with the other prisoners and
treated just the same. At that time,
/ however, solitary confinement was %
dungeon darker than midnight, with
leave to walk in corridor lighted by
lamps half an hour every third day.
Harvey was stout, robust fellow,
with constitution like iron, and had
been in prison over two years when
he sent for me. Some inhuen-
tial friends of his had intelceded
! with The Governor, and Harvey him
self had saved O keeper from being
killed by an insane convict, and in
consequence the terms of his sentence
had been modified and mitigated. He
was permitted to have the run OF a
corridor, an ordinary cell was allotted
to him, and part OF the time he carried
the meals to the men still in the dun
- geons There was no possible chance
= | for him TO escape, and, as he had APP
II parently resigned himself to his fate,
no one suspected him of such an In
tention He had got a note to HE on
!, the excuse that he had some impor-
- tant matters to reveal regarding q
y, robbery perpetrated on my father
II then dead. | went to the prison sup
!, posing that was the convict's sole OBJ
y ject. 1 was permitted to talk witt
y him with an iron grating between us
= and keeper sitting a few feet away
IL to see that | did not pass in any ar
+ ticle.
"harney's boldness filled me will
u astonishment. He began by stating
y that he had heard | was an enthusiast
IL tic student OF anatomy. and thatl hat
III written two or three articles for medi
~ cal magazine on the subject ofsuspend
lie ed animation and frances. This was
ne fact; but as they had been written ant
OF published after Harney's imprison
az ment, and as he was supposed to b
II dead to the world, | could not under
us stand how he had become acquainte'
a with the fact. He put his proposition
|
ence. and it was no more nor less thai
that he should die and his bod
should be turned over to our college
He stipulated that his body shout
not 90 into the vat where the subject
are kept for twenty-four hours ate
being received and that / should pei
-, sonally watch over it for that lengt
GU OF time. 1t was only after a secon
aY visit that was enabled to FULLY con
al prehend his plans. He had discovere
~. that he could die at will and return t
'be life at any hour not over day and
!, night distant. He said that he ha
~ tried it successfully up to ten houl
VIZ on several occasions, and felt sur
be that he could make the time twice c
Inc three times as long. A fellow prisont
ed who observed him while in this stat
Far had asserted that it was a perfet
-, counterfeit OF death, the heart ceaslf
y, it's pulsations, the limbs growing col
NJ and rigid, and the pulse being too talr
' In to be ielt He appealed to my el
na thusiasm in medical science to mai
W. his escape from a life sentence, an
'ns though was at first firmly oppose
, .nt TO the idea, he brought forward s
many arguments, and put them
~ me so keenly, that | was won over.
Medical science must have dea
~ bodies to secure benefits Tor the living
y" he argued. | am a practical demo
~ stration of medical theory you hol
ne You believe that human life can
No. temporarily suspended. and you ha'
y been ridiculed for your assertion
VI Here is the opportunity to prove you
ao theory. ] Will die. All the docto
M will pronounce me dead. You shf
~, restore me to lie. The case will ma
naI you famous.
'tu But your object is to escape fro
10 10 prison protested.
%, p' ." Granted. | killed an old ma
ny who had only two or three yea
o'e to live, any how. have been shut'
Gu two or three years for 1t. 1t was n
pi'S first and only crime, and lhave bite
're' lv repented it. Let me go out IN
hel toe world and shall be n good mi
under another name. The law W
suppose me dead and be satisfied,
an the end he overcame my lea
mt. and scruples, and / agreed to
rlans. but we were ballled at the We
outset by the fact that vacation "
coming on, while the college had mo
hel subjects than it needed. rms
June. you will remember, and 1T won
he near October before Harvey PHI
pa could be carried out. We could sa